For U.S. CPA Firms — Capacity, Supervised

What changes

Five shifts a firm should be able to feel by the end of a pilot.

Capacity pressure
Reliable support
Hiring delays
Flexible delivery
Uncontrolled outsourcing
Defined accountability
Review bottlenecks
Organized workpapers
Busy-season anxiety
Predictable execution

Service lines

Four lines of delivery support.

Direct-company, issuer, valuation, virtual CFO, incorporation, and cross-border services sit in a separate practice area and are not mixed into CPA-firm delivery engagements.

Audit & Assurance Support

Workpaper preparation, tie-outs, schedules, testing support, and review-note resolution under your supervision.

Workpaper preparation and indexing
Financial-statement tie-outs
Audit schedules and lead sheets
Testing support (sampling, recalculation, vouching)
Confirmation tracking and follow-up logs
Roll-forwards and prior-year carry-forward
Documentation organisation and referencing
Review-note resolution and evidencing
SOX and ICFR walkthrough and testing support
Agreed-upon or other permitted procedures support

Full Audit & Assurance Support scope

The nine questions

Answered plainly, before you ask.

Can this team perform work that meets our standards?: Delivery is performed by qualified professionals under named supervision, with a technical reviewer inside the delivery centre before anything reaches you.
Who prepares and reviews each deliverable?: A named preparer, a named engagement manager, a named technical reviewer, and an internal quality review. The roles are listed for your engagement in writing.
How will client information be protected?: Secure VDI, MFA, least-privilege access per named individual, approved devices, restricted download and printing, and access removal on close.
How will the team work inside our systems?: Inside your platforms, your templates, and your review stages — mapped and documented before launch rather than improvised.
How quickly can we begin?: After capacity discovery, NDA and independence review, and access provisioning. We commit to a start date once those are complete, not before.
Can we start with a controlled pilot?: That is the default. A pilot with written success criteria, formally evaluated before anything scales.
How are review notes and technical questions handled?: Questions are routed to the engagement manager and technical reviewer first. Notes are logged, cleared with evidence, and returned with a closure log.
Can the relationship scale during busy season?: Through a seasonal capacity pod trained ahead of the season. We do not promise unlimited capacity.
How are independence and conflicts evaluated?: Screened before acceptance and re-screened at every scope change. The firm serves direct clients, so your client list is screened rather than assumed clear.

Readiness checklist

Are you ready to scope a pilot?

Nine things that make the first conversation productive. Tick what is already true at your firm.

We can name the service line and the specific tasks we would hand over first.
We know our peak volume and the weeks where it concentrates.
We have a template or example of the workpaper standard we expect.
We have decided who inside our firm reviews the returned work.
Our engagement letters and client agreements permit the use of a third-party service provider.
We can share a client list for conflict and independence screening.
We know which systems the delivery team would need access to.
We have an internal security or IT contact who can complete an access review.
We can define what a successful pilot looks like in writing.

0 of 9 ready. A discovery call can fill the remaining gaps.

Engagement models

Choose the shape before the size.

Controlled Pilot

Prove the workflow before you commit to it.

A limited-scope engagement used to evaluate workflow fit, communication, documentation quality, and turnaround. Success criteria are written down before work begins, and the pilot is formally evaluated before anything scales.

Typical fit: Firms outsourcing for the first time, or replacing a provider that did not work out.

Seasonal Capacity Pod

A defined team for a defined peak.

A named group supporting tax or audit demand during peak periods. The pod is trained ahead of the season, ramps on an agreed schedule, and stands down on an agreed date.

Typical fit: January–April tax production, or a concentrated audit calendar.

Dedicated Delivery Team

The same people, every engagement.

Recurring professionals trained in your systems, templates, and review standards. Continuity is the point: the team learns your review preferences and the volume of review notes falls over time.

Typical fit: Firms with steady year-round audit, tax, or CAS volume.

Technical Project Team

Specialists for a bounded problem.

Specialists assigned to a defined accounting, reporting, controls, valuation, or research project, with a scoped deliverable and a named technical reviewer.

Typical fit: A restatement, a controls build-out, an IFRS conversion, or a research memo.

Capacity-model recommender

Where should you start?

When do you need the capacity?

A concentrated peak (tax season, audit calendar)Year-round and recurringOne defined project

Have you worked with a delivery partner before?

No — this would be our firstYes, and it workedYes, and it did not

How defined is the work?

Repeatable production workSteady mixed workloadA specific technical question or deliverable

Suggested starting point

Answer the three questions and this will suggest which engagement model is the sensible place to begin.

Next step

Start with a controlled pilot.

One service line, a defined set of engagements, written success criteria, and a formal evaluation before anything scales.

Design a Pilot Engagement Security, independence and quality

Built for the firm whose name is on the report.